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Tainridge
The Western Coast of Nalthand is cloven from the remainder of the kingdom by the greatest mountain range in All-Eth. Known as the West-Ridge, these peaks were home long ago to the awesome Thanehold of Arhinur-Fal. Far in the deeps of time, dwarves there wrought the Forges of Eternity, which course on with power of their own accord even though all the halls of Arhinur-Fal now lie in darkness and in silence. In this labor, the dwarves worked for the sole time in their history with the Fair Folk, the Wood Elves, who dwelt at the mountains' green-clad feet and lent their magics to their neighbors. The dwarves made many things in the Forges of Eternity that are now no longer seen, as the secrets of their crafting have been lost. For after long ages of peace and plenty, the greatest and most ancient foe of elves and dwarves and men on the Prime Material - the terrible dragon Caelnarvoranith, called by mortals simply Old Red Death - became aware of the wonders in the West. So he passed in fire and ruination across the wide lands of All-Eth and came to Arhinur-Fal and made of it a devastation; this was done solely because ever the joy of mortals did offend him. The southerly half of the West-Ridge is known as the Clantral Mountains; here of old was Arhinur-Fal itself, and this region is reckoned separate from the northern portion. The northernmost quarter of the range is the Tainridge; here the stone of the jagged peaks is black and cold, and the fires deep in the earth are asleep. Scattered pines and scrub-lands dot the shadowed valleys but are not common, as little of the sea's water-logged winds pass eastward up and through the mountains. Goblinoids are the only folk that dwell in this country, chiefly goblins themselves and bugbears their larger kin. The second quarter of the West-Ridge, which bridges the Tainridge and the Clantral Mountains, is called the Clursthills. These are midlands of grassy foothills crested here and there with great, scattered mounds of grey and black stone breaking through the turf. Because of the relative lowness of the country, here wet winds from the sea can pass through the mountains, and yield frequent fogs and growths of moss. The Goblinoid-folk of the Tainridge move frequently in the Clursthills as well, and it is not uncommon in their brigandry that they rob travelers and small caravans, for the midlands are the only easy crossing to the coast. But only very rarely will these creatures risk more, as they know well the wrath of Nalthand. It was on the side of Gorganthur, the last black cliff where the Tainridge drops to the Clursthills, that Old Red Death made his vast, subterranean lair after the doom of Arhinur-Fal. In the earliest days of the Kingdom when Harrin's folk came out of the wide East, it became known that this was the abode of the great dragon, renowned in lore. Even then the Nalthandians held that they owed the dwarves a service, for all the Bearded Folk had done, and they resolved to cleanse this ancient slight on dwarven honor. In those days the fame and splendor of Galdrian Deauchalt, one of Harrin's closest companions and the greatest dragonslayer yet come from men, was waxing to full. For his brother Beroul, first lord of the House of Deauchalt, had perished with all his men defending the King from a mated pair of red dragons during the long Exile, but Galdrian and his boon-companions had avenged them by slaying both the wyrms. Thus Galdrian, who ever listened to the long-remembered griefs of the dwarves, swore on his mighty blade Glory that the thanehold would be avenged; he rode west to Gorganthur with the flower of the Kingdom's chivalry, but neither he nor any of his fellows returned, and Glory is now lost. Since that distant time, the very foundations of Jenaerus have shifted and changed, and it is thought that the old passages down into the wyrm-caves have in many places collapsed inward upon themselves from the movements of the earth. Few now ever venture there, and the lands about are quiet: for many long years have passed, and by now the old dragon surely must be dead. Category:Regions Category:Nalthand